Many thanks to Simon Shakeshaft,
curator of the National Football Shirt Collection at
England Match Shirts for
supplying us with these photos of the shirt worn by John Aston against Ireland
in 1950. It is part of the Neville Evans
Collection.

Most Appearances

Top Scorers

Captains

England made a slight change in their strip
at the beginning of 1949, although the shirt's basic design, collar, long
sleeves (typically rolled up above the elbows during play), three buttons down the
front, remained the same. The most noticeable change came in the three-lions emblem. The crown at
the emblem's top disappeared, and the emblem's shape and design became close to
what they are today.

A trip to Portugal before the 1950 World Cup saw a
new milestone in England's football kit history. The number-three shirt pictured
above is a fine example of the new short-sleeved variation, this one worn by
John Aston, against Ireland in October 1950. Belfast in early October was
evidently considered balmy enough for England to take the field in their new
lighter attire, though, of course, no self-respecting English international
would ever play with his sleeves rolled down, anyway.

From the beginning of 1950, the name of the opposition team was added in
capitalised blue letters in a scroll below the emblem, and the season was
inscribed in red underneath that. The team did not wear the scrolls for the
games played in the 1950 and '54 World Cup tournaments.

Curiously, the emblem also acquired an additional,
eleventh Tudor Rose during this period and even more curiously, it had been
removed by the time of the 1951-52 season, never to return. Other changes to the
style of the emblem during this period are detailed
here.

This white shirt,
like the one before,
was worn with dark navy blue shorts, and black socks bearing a broad white
band at their top, although on occasion it was accompanied by the red away
socks, which also bore the broad white band. England normally wore black
numbers on the back of the shirt and red when the red change socks were
worn.

England's kits were made by at least two
different manufacturers during this period. On more than one occasion, the team changed into a different set of shirts, with different-style numbers,
at half-time. We know that Hope Brothers (based in Littleport,
Cambridgeshire) and St. Blaize contributed shirts in this period.
What has been confusing is that St. Blaize shirts used the same number font
made famous by Umbro in later years, but we have not found any Umbro England
shirts prior to 1954.

A team selected from England's 1950
World Cup squad won the F.A. Charity Shield wearing this kit in September
of the same year, at Stamford Bridge. They beat another F.A. XI, selected from
a squad that had toured Canada just before the World Cup.

Left - the
shirt worn by Billy Wright in the FA's ninetieth anniversary international
against a FIFA select side.

Matches in Which England Wore the
1949 Home White Uniform

1948-49

245

9 April 1949

1-3 vs. Scotland, Empire
Stadium, Wembley, London

BC

HL

Notes

England wore red
socks against Scotland.

246

13 May 1949

1-3 vs. Sweden, Rĺsunda Fotbollstadion, Solna kommun, Stockholms län

Fr

AL

247

18 May 1949

4-1 vs. Norway, Ullevĺl
Stadion, Oslo

Fr

AW

Notes

Awaiting photographic
evidence, but it seems highly likely that England wore this uniform.

A collection of badges as worn by the great Sir Tom Finney, on display in the
National
Football Museum in Preston. Each badge shows the difference in such a short
period of
time. Note too - the eleven Tudor roses in the badge against Wales in
1950.